When you hear the term, "America's sweetheart,"
most people think of me.
[LAUGHTER]
But our first guest is absolutely a close second.
Please welcome my friend Kristen Bell.
[CHEERING & APPLAUSE]
Oh, I'm so happy to see a friendly face.
I know.
I'm so happy to see you virtually.
I know.
I just saw you before you got on camera.
It looked like you were yelling at somebody.
Was that one of your daughters or Dax or who?
No, just a group of my friends.
Just yelling at a bunch of people at work,
keeping them in line.
That's so you.
[LAUGHTER]
So what's the story with the bangs?
I know there was a big hoo-ha on the internet.
Are those real bangs?
Or are they fake bangs?
[LAUGHTER]
They're fake bangs.
It's actually a toupee.
Oh.
[LAUGHTER]
Not a full wig piece.
But it's a piece.
It goes on here.
It's glued to my forehead under here, right?
Nice.
And then this part, these little strings, are part of the piece.
And then the rest is me.
And you know what?
I'm wearing it for this new show I'm doing on Netflix
called The Woman in the House.
And I've got to say.
I've fallen in love with it.
And I desperately want bangs.
But my husband has said before that a man's only job
is to make sure that his partner does not get bangs.
[LAUGHTER]
So I guess I'll get them if I can find the scissors
because he knows I want them.
And I think he feels like he should stop me
because he doesn't want to hear me complain six weeks from now
that I'm trying to grow them out.
Yeah, but I just feel like with Dax,
he owes you so much, right?
Didn't he just buy a motorhome and park it in your front yard?
[LAUGHTER]
Yeah.
Yeah, he did, Chelsea.
Well, he was very excited to get a motorhome.
We go motorhoming a lot.
We like camping and stuff I didn't
realize it was going to be in the front window.
That's literally-- you look out from the dining room
table, the kitchen table, that's what you see.
Her name is Big Brown.
[LAUGHTER]
And it's more of, I guess, an art installation
in the yard now.
So I don't know if we'll actually take it out
because he literally loves-- every morning,
he opens the curtains at breakfast
and just stares at her.
He's in love with her.
And he actually installed septic and electric right next to her
so that it would be just a full running guesthouse.
So I don't know if he's planning on escaping in there.
Or if people come stay, I guess we've got a little apartment
on our front lawn.
Yeah, because you guys just moved into a new house, too.
And then he has to litter it with that.
Yeah.
Yes, he does.
And that's marriage, you know?
That's the compromises you make in marriage.
I got to pick out the furniture.
And he got to put a motor home on my front lawn.
[LAUGHTER]
I think a nice meeting in the middle and a compromise
is that you only go in that trailer home
when you have your bangs on.
[LAUGHTER]
OK, that's fair enough.
That's fair enough.
So the last time Dax was on the show,
he showed a picture of you peeing in his brand new car.
It's a problem that we share, so I wanted to bring it up
because I also urinate a lot when I laugh too hard.
[LAUGHTER]
Are you just urinating for urination purposes?
Or are you laughing too hard and urinating?
I think why I did it was I had a lot of water.
That's my first guess.
The other thing is what I've realized,
because I pee a lot in the car, I usually bring a Mason jar
because I know myself.
If we go anywhere, and I'm told I can't go to the bathroom,
I immediately have to pee more than I've ever had to
in my life.
I don't know if it's a challenge thing.
But if we go on a road trip--
that place, we had driven to the beach just to see the ocean.
And it's a pandemic.
So I can't really just use the public restroom.
So I brought my Mason jar because I knew I'd have to pee.
And he was not happy because he had gotten
the car 48 hours earlier.
But I didn't spill any.
So I don't know what he's griping about.
I did not spill any.
Yeah, I have a similar problem.
I don't go to the bathroom till 4:00 PM.
And then all of a sudden, I break some seal.
And I have to go 15 times before I go to bed.
I don't know if that's an age thing,
or if that's just the way the world is now
because of the pandemic.
It's made us pee more.
I'm not clear.
Well, I will say, it might be an age thing
because the older we get, the weirder stuff
is going to start happening.
I'll tell you that much.
It's like a long descent, isn't it?
All of a sudden, things start going.
And you're like, oh.
And you start complaining about your knees or your hips.
And you're like, oh my God.
What am I saying?
I'm in my 40s.
And then you're like, oh, I'm dying.
We're rotting.
We're beginning to decompose.
Yeah, that's right.
Decline.
We're going into decline.
We are.
And you know what's interesting?
It's partially for this project, but partially
just because I've had more time.
I've been working out and getting really into fitness
more than I ever have in my life.
And I'm happy about it.
I'm seeing muscles.
And I look at my chest or my arms in the mirror.
And then I'll catch my face.
And I'll go, oh my God.
I didn't know my mom was in town.
[LAUGHTER]
Speaking of mom, tell me about your girls.
How are the little girls doing?
You know what?
It's a lot to be captured in a house with two children.
It's like having NPR on, but two different stations
at all times, but if it were all questions.
There were no facts.
It's good most of the time.
But my six-year-old has pretty consistently done this thing
that drives me nuts, where we'll--
a lot of the stuff we do is watch movies.
Not a ton of other things to do.
So we'll sit down and watch a movie.
We'll be 5 minutes in.
She'll get bored.
And she'll get up to go do a craft.
We get these boxes in the mail called KiwiCo.
And it's like a obstacle she can build.
And she can read the directions.
So she'll sit at the table and do it
for like an hour and a half.
She's having so much fun.
She finishes her KiwiCo box.
Then she comes back to the couch.
And 10 minutes before the movie's over, she goes, OK.
What'd I miss?
[LAUGHTER]
That is absolutely unacceptable.
She does it every other night.
I'm excited that the world will open again.
Let's put it that way.
I think all parents will probably
agree with you on that front.
Who's in charge at your house, of the kids?
Who's the alpha in your house, you or Dax?
God, it depends.
We both make the rules.
And we do a good job of passing off the power.
But I definitely am more of the pushover.
I try to make rules.
But I'm also a big fan of make a better argument.
If you make a really good argument why you should
have a cupcake before bed, OK.
But it's got to be a good argument.
And the problem is they're both little prosecutors.
So they make really good arguments.
So he's more of a rule maker.
[LAUGHTER]
OK, Kristen.
You got some new rescue dogs, didn't you?
A couple?
I did.
Well, I got one, yes.
We lost two dogs during the pandemic.
Bummer.
Oh, that's what I heard.
I'm so sorry.
It's OK.
You know what?
It happens when they're very old.
We got a new one a couple of months ago, a tripod.
And he's wonderful.
His name is Whiskey.
But he lost his leg in a truck accident.
Oof-- let me explain why he looks like this,
because that's a rough picture, the only kind he takes.
So because he was in this accident
and they lopped his leg off, he won't
let anyone get near him with so much as a fork,
because he has intense PTSD about his leg being cut off.
So he has peanut butter and crap stuck in his beard and mats
everywhere.
And every time I try to break out the scissors,
he skedaddles.
So he might just be a garbage dog forever.
He's rough looking.
Yeah, he looks like he's got a fierce hangover in that photo.
[LAUGHTER]
I'm not even sure what leg that is in that picture.
It's on of them, I guess.
Well, one of your dogs hits on you, doesn't he?
Big time.
And I say it.
And people are like, oh, that might be a bit.
She's joking.
But first of all, look at the ecstasy
on his face right there, OK?
This is Frank.
We got him from a rescue called the Dog Cafe.
I brought him home, and I just started to realize, oh,
this guy is really into me.
He's kind of single white femailing me.
And the way he looks at me, they're bedroom eyes.
I know what bedroom eyes look like, OK?
He looks at me like he's undressing me all the time.
And some people don't believe me until they see it.
But this dog is into me.
I hear what you're saying because I
see my dog act like that with my cleaning lady.
He is into her.
He sees her, and he runs, and he chases her from room
to room all day long.
And when she leaves, his head is on the ground for two hours
until he realizes that she's not coming back.
And I have to start talking in her accent
to get him to pay attention to me.
[LAUGHTER]
Look at that dogs can be obsessed with people, for sure.
And why can't it be?
Maybe we're anthropomorphizing them.
But maybe it is sexual.
We don't know, you know?
It's only sexual if we reciprocate whatever feelings.
[LAUGHTER]
Because what happens is, and I think
you'll agree with me, when somebody feels
that way about you, you automatically
are attracted back to them.
When someone's attracted to you, you're automatically
attracted to them?
Like in the way that your dog is attracted to you,
when somebody loves you that much,
you immediately are loving and sometimes attracted back
to them.
If it were a human form, definitely.
A dog form is a little trickier.
[LAUGHTER]
I tell Frank no funny business.
I've got a husband.
No funny business.
I don't have a husband.
So there's a lot of funny business.
[LAUGHTER]
I love your funny business so much.
Can I just say how much I love your nudes?
Oh.
No, sincerely.
Because it's one thing to post a nude, and it's
quite another to post a nude and promote literacy.
And I just have such an intense--
oh, there it is--
respect for you and what you do.
And I almost feel like you're the edgier version of me.
I'm sort of like the gateway drug to--
because I'm not doing nudes, but I'm
trying, also, to promote literacy and get
people to read and use their brain and critical think.
So it's sort of like, come to my feed
first if you're nervous about reading.
And then once you're knee deep in it, hit up Chelsea's.
[LAUGHTER]
Well, thank you for that.
I appreciate that.
And right back at you because I want
to talk a little bit about Hello Bello
before we leave because you're doing amazing things.
And I know you supplied a family last year with a year's supply
of diapers, right?
[APPLAUSE]
And then when the pandemic hit, we thought, well,
it's time to double down.
And so one of the things, when Dax and I started Hello Bello,
we wanted people not to have to choose between their baby
or their budget.
And we created a great product at a very fair price.
And we were like, before the pandemic hit,
let's give away each week a year's worth of diapers.
And then during the pandemic, we were like,
we've got to go all in and really help
as many people as possible.
And I think giving is really powerful, especially
when you can do it.
I get that feeling a lot.
So we're choosing a family every week at Hello Bello
to get a year's worth of diapers and any baby
supplies they need.
And then that family is allowed to choose another family
that they want to give to.
So we're just trying to help as many people as possible,
spread the giving so that we can take care of each other
and heal after the mega dumpster fire that was 2020.
Good for you.
I love that.
We'll be right back with more Kristen after this.
OK, and we're back with Kristen Bell.
So Kristen, we've had conversations
in the past about cannabis and about CBD, THC,
blah, blah, blah.
So I was really excited to hear about you coming out
with your own brand, your own line, Happy Dance.
So what got you into CBD cream?
Well, like you, again, CBD, it's a strand
of the marijuana plant.
And again, I'm the gateway to you, I feel like.
So you're into the THC biz, which I love.
And I-- CBD just improved my life.
It really did.
And I like, as a budding entrepreneur,
to leverage my ability and bring great products to people.
And my goal with Happy Dance was really just
to demystify the space of CBD, that it's
the part that won't get you high,
but create trusted CBD products more widely accessible
to people everywhere.
And it's improved my life.
It really just makes me feel like I'm
setting the temperature gauge to exactly
the right number in my life.
It makes me feel so good.
And so we have three products.
We have a body butter.
We have a coconut melt, which is a great all-purpose.
I take my makeup off with it.
It's awesome.
And a bath bomb.
That's cute.
And now they're available at Ulta everywhere.
And it's doing really well.
And I hope that it helps a lot of people.
I love all your brands.
I love how productive you are.
And I think that another thing to keep in mind
with CBD, THC, whatever you're into, that helped
me get into meditation.
It helped me calm down.
You're talking about gateway.
And I say that cannabis was my gateway drug to meditation.
So the combination, I know you talk about therapy.
I talk about therapy.
But the combination of the two in concert
is what really helped me sit down and listen
and stop talking all the time and listen a little bit more
and relax.
And so I want to ask you a question about therapy
because you're open about that with Dax and stuff.
And you guys are both so busy.
You're busier than you've ever been.
And so is he.
When do you guys get to see each other,
and how do you make it work?
Well, it's a different recipe every time.
I'll tell you this.
At the beginning of the pandemic,
we were at each other's throats.
And then all the doors locked in our house.
We had to stay inside.
And we were like, woof.
We need to get a handle on the annoyances.
And our therapist, Harry, who I love
so much, the favorite quote he's ever said to me,
he said something to me, he said, do something nice today.
And don't get caught.
And I was like, yes!
That's how I want to live my life.
Harry suggested since we were both so annoyed
with each other, because the reality is,
if you're living with one human being,
I don't care if it's your partner or your husband
or your wife or whoever it is, your roommate,
you need to brush up on your toolbox
because you will find that person annoying.
Relationships take work.
He suggested we go to therapy separately so that we could
talk [BLEEP] about each other.
[LAUGHTER]
And we did.
And it's been great.
Currently, right now, what we've been
doing the last couple of months, is every two weeks
or so I'll see Harry via Zoom and complain about Dax.
And then he'll give me all the reasons why I'm wrong.
And then Dax will do the same.
And then by the time we meet up in the evening,
we love each other again because our toolboxes are bigger.
It's like a very safe-- when you have a third party moderating
any disagreement, it's always a safer place.
Because when two people are talking defense mechanisms
and cortisol and all that stuff, it just messes up the solution.
Yeah, you always need a third party.
Even if you're single, you need a third party
to mediate between all of your personalities.
Thank you so much, Kristen, for being here.
I miss you.
I miss your face.
And I'm so happy to see it.
For more info about where you can find Hello Bello and Happy
Dance, go to Ellen's website.
And we'll be right back.
Hi, I'm Andy.
Ellen asked me to remind you to subscribe to her channel
so you can see more awesome videos,
like videos of me getting scared or saying embarrassing things,
like, "ball peen hammer," and also
some videos of Ellen and other celebrities,
if you're into that sort of thing
Yah!
Oh [BLEEP]!
God [BLEEP].